State's contract data often kept in the dark

May 13, 2010

Written by

Ben Jones

Post-Crescent Madison bureau chief

What The P-C did

In stories Sunday and Monday, The Post-Crescent examined Wisconsin agencies' lack of compliance with a state law enacted in 2006 requiring government contract information to be posted online. The newspaper found Wisconsin's Contract Sunshine Web site is largely incomplete, the state does not know what information is missing because no one has audited the site, and a nationwide study in 2009 of states' contract disclosures ranked Wisconsin among the seven worst states. To see the earlier stories, the lawmakers' letter to Gov. Jim Doyle and a general inventory of the state's site, click on www.postcrescent.com/opengovernment.

Contract Sunshine online

As of Wednesday, 14 of 84 state agencies listed on Wisconsin's Contract Sunshine Web site had at least some contract information attached. The information was dated between January 2006 and December 2009. Those agencies: Administration; Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection; Commerce; Justice; Director of State Courts; Financial Institutions; Government Accountability Board; Governor; Insurance Commissioner; Legislative Technology Services Bureau; Transportation; University of Wisconsin System; Veterans Affairs; and Workforce Development. On the Web: http://sunshine.sundialsc.com

Nationwide study

The Center for Responsive Law is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan government research group founded in 1968 by Ralph Nader. According to its Web site, the center supports and conducts research and educational projects to encourage political, economic and social institutions to be more aware of the needs of citizens. The center released a report critical of Wisconsin's contract disclosure performance in May 2009.Top performers: Illinois, Indiana, Montana, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Texas and Vermont.Worst performers: Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Wyoming.Read the full report online at www.csrl.org/reports/Contracts.pdf.

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MADISON — Three state lawmakers from northeastern Wisconsin urged Gov. Jim Doyle on Tuesday to ensure that state agencies follow the law by disclosing government contract information online for public viewing.

"We believe that Wisconsin residents deserve to know what their tax dollars are being spent on when agencies enter into contracts," wrote Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah; Sen. Rob Cowles, R-Green Bay; and Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer, D-Manitowoc, in a letter to Doyle.

They requested that Doyle send them a detailed plan for greater compliance.

Adam Collins, a Doyle spokesman, said the governor expects agencies to comply with the law.

"The governor has long been a proponent of transparency in government. He signed this bill into law. This office … has been sending this (contract) information in and the governor certainly would expect that there be compliance," Collins said.

In the letter, the lawmakers cited Post-Crescent reports published Sunday and Monday showing that the state's Contract Sunshine Web site is largely a blank slate despite a 4-year-old law that requires online disclosure of all contracts worth at least $10,000.

Of 98 agencies, boards, commissions, councils, universities and colleges listed on the site — http://sunshine.sundialsc.com — only 14 have posted any contract information, some of which is outdated or incomplete.

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The P-C also found that the state is uncertain how much information is missing from the site because no one audits it.

A national group gave Wisconsin a failing grade in a study last year of states' contract disclosures.

The Wisconsin law, enacted in 2006, requires all agencies to submit information to the state's Government Accountability Board, which is responsible for posting it. The board's director told The P-C it is working out technical problems with the site but that it has no authority to ensure compliance from individual agencies.

A spokesman for the board last week said the board hired a person in the fall who is working with agencies to develop a system to make it easier for them to submit the information.

Collins said it's his understanding the Department of Administration is working with the board to resolve issues with the system.

Kaufert said he thinks an order of the governor can solve the problem.

"They report to (Doyle), and (he) can remind them that, 'Hey, there is a law passed for a reason, I signed it for a reason, and I am telling you, you must comply with the law on the books in the statutes,'" Kaufert said.

Cowles said the Legislature has passed a number of transparency reforms over the years and he did not know that the Contract Sunshine site was missing information until The P-C's first report was published Sunday.

"I thought it was being implemented," he said. "This is why investigative reporting, which you are doing, is so critical to find things out. We all have 100 things on our plate and there was an assumption that this thing was being complied with and it (was not).

"I'm very troubled that it wasn't being complied with."

Cowles said that while the Legislature could explore other tools to force compliance, he thinks a directive from Doyle can spur agencies to start reporting the information.

Rep. Tom Nelson, D-Kaukauna, majority leader of the state Assembly, said he still is researching the issue but is open to proposals for improving the site.

Sen. Mike Ellis, R-Neenah, said he did not know about the system's shortcoming until reading The P-C report and pulling up the site himself. He said Tuesday he wasn't immediately sure of the best solution to fix it.

"We are going to have to look into this because this is totally incomplete," Ellis said.

He said it is vital the information be made accessible to the public.

"Is contracting services in the best interest of the people of Wisconsin, the taxpayers?" he said. "If we don't know what contracted services are out there and the costs related to them are, how can we make that judgment? Are we spending the taxpayers' money in the most efficient way ... and how money of these contracts are being awarded as sweethearts for people that donate big bucks?

"How many of these contract services are linked to large campaign donations? Once again, we can't answer that question."